IDEX (NYSE:IEX) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on IEX. Citigroup lifted their price target on IDEX from $254.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of IDEX in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on IDEX from $245.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised IDEX from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.78.

IDEX Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of IEX opened at $232.37 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. IDEX has a 12 month low of $183.76 and a 12 month high of $246.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $236.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $216.50. The firm has a market cap of $17.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.97.

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.12. IDEX had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 18.21%. The company had revenue of $801.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.52 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. IDEX’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that IDEX will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IDEX

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in IDEX by 1,196.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 135,825 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,598,000 after buying an additional 125,348 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,190,741 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $475,632,000 after purchasing an additional 84,502 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp grew its holdings in shares of IDEX by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 1,564 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in IDEX by 13.3% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 244,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,884,000 after buying an additional 28,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in IDEX by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 76,465 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,601,000 after buying an additional 7,684 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.96% of the company’s stock.

IDEX Company Profile

IDEX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides applied solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Fluid & Metering Technologies (FMT), Health & Science Technologies (HST), and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products (FSDP). The FMT segment designs, produces, and distributes positive displacement pumps, valves, small volume provers, flow meters, injectors, and other fluid-handling pump modules and systems, as well as flow monitoring and other services for the food, chemical, general industrial, water and wastewater, agricultural, and energy industries.